Ascent Trip Report

we fly to Ulaan Bataar from Bejing, arriving a day late due to sand storm. we fly to Olgi with EZ Nis Airlines and stay in the village for 3 nites, watching the Nadaam Festival, archery, horseback riding and wrestling. we finally have petrol for the 40 year old Ukranian jeep and head west. no road, few bridges. we camp at xxxx along the xxx River. we enter Tavan Bogd National Park and get stuck many times, back track many times, almost drowd in the rivers several times, finally arriving at base camp at xxxx meter outside the Ger. after a few days we ford the mighty milky Potanii River on horseback and with horse, camel and foot make it to Advanced Base Camp at the foot of the Potanii Glacier. crazy weather researchers and a spanish couple touring. we head off across the morraine and glacier, camping on the middle of the Potanii Glacier. we climb the south ridge...thou probably should have been on the northeast ridge. i park the idiot guide with our crappy loaner gear about xxx meter and push on post holing and scrambling up thin ice to a giant crevase just below the summit ridge. we are in no shape to pass... lousy gear and bex with not enough experience. we have a slow and frightful decent on 1-2 cm rhyme ice over crumbly rock and postholing until we pick up the knucklehead guide, who falls down climbing the rocks and bex does a rescue, thou almost pulling me off the ridge. we finally make it down to our bivoac site, break camp and have an interesting schloss thru the rapidly melting snow on the glacier making raging mimi-rivers everywhere. just finding a place to do a dangerous crossing off the glacier to the lateral morraine is an adventure.

we get back to ABC, rest for the nite and head off on horse for Base Camp. we feast on "Blowtorched marmot' that nite, horse & yak meat. yum. we then take 3 nite horse trip over another pass with a drunked guide, vomiting and about to die. beautiful countryside. we meet camel caravan traders. told not to look up valley into China. "....Mongolia good, China dogs!" we camp by a nice lake, then meet up with the jeep, catch greyling in the river and after several days get back to Olgi, where we arre barackaded into a Ger for our own safety from bandits and a most certain nasty death from pack of angry snarling churs in town. we fly to UB via Moron, then stay in a hotel, shower, tour town a bit and fly to Bejing and Seoul the next day!